Medicine-dropper



(No Model.)

T. 0. WEEKS. MEDICINE DROPPER. No. 446,674.

Patented Feb rvrrn States ldarmrr tries.

THOMAS C. IVEEKS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

MEDICINE-DROPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,574, dated February17, 1891. Application filed December 18, 1890. Serial No. 375,107. (Nomodel.)

To all whom, it may concern..-

Be it known that I, THOMAS C. \VEEKS, a resident of Baltimore, in theState of. Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMedicinerDroppers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a medicine-dropper that shallbe simple and economical in form, easy of application to a bottle, neatin use, and one that can be readily cleansed and that shall producedrops of a standard size; and it consists in the constructionhereinafter described and pointed out.

Figure 1 is an elevation of the device applied to a bottle and inoperation. Fig. 2 is a partial section of the device on a bottle, takenon the linear x of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a plan, and Fig. 4 is a similarview of a modification.

The main part of the dropper is a circular disk, (denoted by numeral 1,)which disk has preferably a lip 2, extending beyond the circumference ofthe circle. The disk is provided with an elevation 5, adapted to fit themouth of a bottle. This approximately convex portion has its sidesinclined and slightly curved, by preference as shown at 6, to conform tosaid mouth as customarily formed. The outer annular partof the diskrests on the top or lip of the bottle, as shown.

7 denotes a tapering groove formed in the under side of the disk andextending beyond its circular part, with its point in the lip 2. Thisgroove divides the elevation or stopper 5 into two parts. The thin diskis favorable for stamping out of sheet material, and the depressionconveniently formed therein, holds the finger-tip when using the device.

To use the dropper, it is placed on a bottle or other like vessel, sothat it closes its mouth except where the groove 7 extends through oracross the same. The bottle being then inclined, while the dropper isheld upon its month by the index-finger of the hand which embraces thebottle or otherwise, and the point of the groove being directed downwardly, air enters the large end of the groove, permitting the fluidcontents of the bottle to pass down through the small end of the grooveto the lip 2, where it is held by attraction until sufficient liquidaccumulates to form a drop, whereupon it falls into a suitablereceptacle placed underneath.

The precise form of the lip illustrated is not essential to theoperation, and were it omitted entirely the device would drop, though ina less perfect and satisfactory manner. The dropper may be variedsomewhat in dimensions and form. It can be made of hard rubber, which ispreferred, or of metal, wood, celluloid, paper, or other material. Itsform is such that it can be cleansed with ease and certainty. It can beinstantaneously applied to a bottle and brought into action, and, havingbeen made with a groove of proper size, it will invariably producestandard drops.

I do not broadly claim devices for dropping medicines having anair-inlet on one side and a liquid-exit 011 the other, nor flat droppershaving a tip 5 nor do I broadly claim a tapered groove such as shown inthe devices described in United States Patent No. 417,958 and in BritishPatent No. 791, A. D. 1876. It is characteristic of my improvementthatthe tapered groove vanishes in a point located on the under side of alevel surface and suitable for the formation, under the ordinary law, ofa drop of standard size. This cannot be effected by a mere spout or anygroove which does not terminate in a line point and adjacent to a levelsurface, nor by a groove which is enlarged toward its outer end and istherefore calculated to modify the size of the drop. It is importantthat the groove should taper to a fine point and that in connection withsuch vanishing point of the groove an adjoining level surface should beprovided upon which the successive drops may be formed undisturbed byany current or by any shaping influence of the groove itself. It isfurther characteristic of my dropper that it has a small centraldepression, which on one side is adapted to receive the end of a fingerand on the other to guide the device to a seat on the bottle, said seatbeing an annular part surrounding the depression and adapted to rest onthe bottle-mouth. The enlargement of the aforesaid groove extended tothe edge of the disk provides for the ready access of air.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by LettersPatent is-= The medicinc-dro1i per consisting of a thin diskhaving' anannular flat portion and a central depression and adapted to rest uponthe upper surface of the mouth of the bottle and having a groove passingtransversely across the under side thereof, said groove being topered toand terminating in the exterior flat portion, the depression beingadapted to receive a finger and also to centrallyloeate the dropper inthe mouth of the bottle, and the 10 tapered groovebeing adapted toconvey fluid to the fiat portion and permit the formation thereon ofstandard drops, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in vthe presenceof two subscrib- I 5 'ing witnesses.

THOMAS 0. WEEKS. Witnesses:

JOSEPH P. MERRYMAN, GEO. C. BISHOP.

